1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for aiding the transmission of intent, which enable a severely physically-handicapped person, who has lost muscular energy due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), muscular dystrophy or the like, to transmit his/her intent through an electroencephalogram wave.
2. Related Background Art
The number of physically-handicapped persons, who lose motor functions while retaining their brain function, is expected to increase in the coming aged society. In the case of such diseases as ALS or muscular dystrophy, which are known as incurable diseases, patients' losing the means for transmitting their intent in medical care environments is leading to a significant increase in the medical care cost for medical treatment, medical attendance, and nursing. Further, there is strong demand for mutual transmission of intent between patients, who still retain human intelligence and senses, and people who attend on the patients over a long period.
A disease such as ALS and muscular dystrophy causes the muscular function of a human body to be lost slowly and no aiding apparatus is available for transmitting intent, which can be used over the entire period of the progressive disease of a patient.
A conventional apparatus, however, limits an input device to an external mechanical switch, whereas the mechanical switch is not suited to a patient suffering from the advancement of muscular anergic disease. The present invention combines a mechanical switch and an electroencephalogram wave switch to meet the demand for transmission of intent over the entire period of such a disease.
There is a human body feedback switch apparatus which employs the alpha wave among brain waves. The emergence of the alpha wave, however, varies greatly from one person to another, making it unsatisfactory as a control signal in the aspect of reliability accuracy; therefore, the switch apparatus is not used as a control switch for transmitting intent.
The conventional apparatus applies a general-purpose computer for non-handicapped persons and it is therefore disadvantageous to the physically-handicapped in that the operation is complicated and it is too large for them to handle easily. There is demand for a dedicated apparatus designed with an emphasis placed on ease of operation with a minimum of functions provided.
FIG. 3 is a block configuration diagram of a conversation aid apparatus, which applies a conventional general-purpose computer.
In the conversation aid apparatus, a main unit employs a general-purpose computer, which is equipped with a keyboard input device 51, a mouse input device 52, a main controller 53, which controls the constituents, a sub controller 54, which controls a display device 55 and a speech synthesizer 58, an external storage 56, and a memory 57, and it has an external input terminal of a control switch 50, which is operated by muscular strength.
As for conversational language, 960 daily conversational sentences, which are frequently used by physically-handicapped persons, are registered in the external storage 56 through a floppy disk. The registered sentences are displayed in sequence by switching the screen and a desired sentence is selected by using the mouse input device 52, the mechanical switch 50 or the like. Thus, the conventional apparatus is operated in a manner similar to that for a regular computer.
The conventional intent transmitting apparatus presents the following problems:
(1) The apparatus fails to enable a patient, who retains normal brain function, to use electroencephalogram wave other than muscular strength or to use it in combination. PA0 (2) There is no interface available, which allows the apparatus to be used over the entire period of a progressive disease of a patient. The switch for confirming a selection is a mechanical switch, which is operated by muscular force and adapted to particular body movements. Therefore, the apparatus cannot be used when the patient loses his/her muscular strength, making it unsuitable for the physically-handicapped persons who are the target of the present invention. PA0 (3) The use of the general-purpose computer with a keyboard, which is unnecessary for the user, adds weight to the apparatus. Further, the apparatus is equipped with accessories such as a voice synthesizer, adding to the size and complication, making the apparatus difficult to handle. PA0 (4) The conventional software displays many different message sentences for daily conversation on a message display and allows selection of a desired message. For a severely physically-handicapped person, the more message selections they have, the more complicated and difficult operation they must execute. Hence, displaying a minimum of essential messages has become one of the requirements. PA0 1. Their use for transmitting patient's intent to the persons attending on or nursing the patient in medical care environments leads to higher efficiency in nursing. PA0 2. Permits the transmission of intent of a patient, which is neglected in the medical science today, thus bringing out socially meaningful results. The apparatus employs a highly durable input control interface to prolong the service life of the apparatus. PA0 3. The apparatus uses a dedicated system rather than a general-purpose computer; it features a minimum of required functions and easy operation, and it is ideally suited for clinical applications. Furthermore, it is compact and light-weight and it can be mounted on a post, thus saving installing space and exhibiting better portability. PA0 4. The electroencephalogram wave processing and switch units can be applied as controllers having other functions to general-purpose applications.